Expansive gas protective device

ABSTRACT

An expansive gas protective device for use in a personnel work area and including a heavy walled protective vessel formed with a high pressure work piece chamber disposed in the work area and formed with a discharge outlet opening to an area remote from such work area and a doorway opening into such work area and normally covered by a heavy door. A high pressure source includes connector means disposed within the chamber for connection with work pieces located in such chamber. Means is also provided for moving the door between open and closed positions. Thus, work pieces may be placed in such chamber and the connectors connected therewith, the door closed and the high pressure source actuated to pressurize the work pieces. In the event of a failure and rapid expansion of gases in such chamber, the expanding gases will be directed out such outlet to the area remote from the work area and, likewise, any debris or airborne work pieces will also be directed away from the work area to protect personnel working in such area.

[ June 18, 1974 [76] Inventor:

[ EXPANSIVE GAS PROTECTIVE DEVICE Carlton L. Koehler, Box 236, 'Avalon,Calif. 90704 [22] Filed: Apr. 10, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 242,533

[52] US. Cl..; 141/82, 49/445, 61/69 R, v

[51]' Int. Cl B65b 3/04 [58] Field of Search 49/387, 445; 61/69 R;

97, 236, 390; 220/5 A36, 41, DICE 6 2,531,953 10/1950 Smith et a1 .1141/97 X Primary Examiner-Houston S. Bell,.lr. AssistantExaminer-Frederick R. Schmidt Attorney, Agent, or FirmFulwider, Patton,Rieber,

Lee & Utecht 7] ABSTRACT An expansive gas protective device for use in apersonnel work area and including a heavy walled protective vesselformed with a high pressure work piece chamber disposed in the work areaand formed with a discharge outlet opening to an area remote from suchwork area and a doorway opening into such work area and normally coveredby a heavy door. A high pres sure source includes connector meansdisposed within the chamber for connection with work pieces located insuch chamber. Means is also provided for moving the door between openand closed positions. Thus, Work pieces may be placed in such chamberand the connectors connected therewith, the door closed and the highpressure source actuated to pressurize the work pieces. In the event ofa failure and rapid expansion of gases in such chamber, the expandinggases will be directed out such outlet to the area remote from theworkarea and, likewise, any debris or. airborne work pieces will also bedirected away from the work area to protect personnel working in sucharea.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures EXPANSIVE GAS PROTECTIVE DEVICE BACKGROUNDor THE INVENTION l. Field of the Invention The present inventionrelates'to an expansive gas protective device for housing work pieces,such as scuba diving tanks, during charging thereof to protect adjacentworkmen from injury in the case of an explosion.

2. Description of the Prior Art While many devices have been proposedforshielding workmen from explosives, applicant is'not aware 'of anydevices for adequately protecting workmen during charging of scubadiving tanks and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The expansive gas protective device of presentinvention is characterized by a heavy walled vessel disposed in a workarea and having a door opening into such workarea. The vessel is formedwith a discharge outlet opening to an area remote from the work area. Ahigh pressure supply includes connector means disposed in the chamberfor connection with the work pieces whereby such work pieces may beplaced in the chamber and the connectors connected therewith. The doormay then be closed and the pressure supply actuated to pressurize thework pieces and, consequently, any equipment failure in the chamberwhich results in an explosion will result in the expanding gases beingdirected toward the outlet and away from the work area to protectworkmen working therein.

The objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparentfrom a consideration of the following detail description taken inconjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I shows a building having an expansivegas protective device embodying the present invention installed therein;

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FlGS.l and 2, theexpansive gas protective device of present invention includes,generally, a heavy walled cylindrical vessel 11 formed at its upperextremity with an upwardly opening discharge outlet 13 andin its lowerextremity with a radially outwardly opening door 15 which opens into awork area 17. The doorway 15 is normally covered by a heavy door 19which is counter-balanced by means of a counterbalance weight 21.Disposed within the vessel 11 is an air manifold 25 having a series ofconnector conduits 27 leading therefrom for connection on their free extremities with scuba diver tanks3l. Consequently, the tanks 31 may bebrought into the vessel 11 through the doorway 15 and connected with therespective conduits 27. The door 19 may then be lowered to its closedposition and the manifold 25 pressurized to commence It is commonpractice to fill scuba diving tanks 31 with approximately cubic feet ofair at a pressure of 2,400 PSI. When this is done in a sports shop orthe like, the surrounding personnel are subjected to a great dangersince failure of one of such tanks results in rapidly expanding gaseswhich render surrounding articles airborne and frequently propel thefailed tank through the air to form a highly lethal projectile. Theexpansive gas protector device of present invention isparticularlyadapted for installation in a scuba divers shop 35 (FIG. 1)and may have the upper extremity thereof projecting through the roof 37of such shop to tenninate in the discharge outlet 13 opening above suchroof. Obviously, if' there are unoccupied areas adjacent the shop 35,such as the edge of a pier or the like, the discharge outlet 13 may openinto such area.

The vessel 11 is formed with an integral bottom wall 32 which slopesradially inwardly and downwardly to a central drain opening connectedwith a downwardly leading drain pipe 33. The upwardly opening dischargeoutlet 13 is covered by a gridwork of diagonally extending rods 34 and36 which define interstices having an area smaller than the crosssectional area of the scuba tanks 31 to block egress of such tanks inthe case of an explosion.

The vessel door 19 is larger than the doorway 15 to overlap the marginaledges thereof by about 1 inch to prevent such door from being blown outthrough the opening in the event of an explosion. A pair of tracks 38extend vertically along the opposite sides of the door and arc generallyL-shaped in cross section to projeet'radially inwardly along theopposite edges of the door 19 and to then turn and project generallytangential to the wall of the vessel 11 at a distance spaced radiallyinwardly therefrom a distance equal to the thickness of the door 19 forslideable receipt of the door between such track and vessel wall.Consequently, the door is retained at its opposite edges for freesliding upwardly and downwardly within the tracks Mounted exteriorly onthe wall of the vessel 11 immediately above the door opening 15 is alatch, generally designated 39 (FIG. 4), for selective engagement withthe upper and lower extremities of such door. The latch 39 is carriedcentrally from a pivot pin 41 and is formed on one end with a handle 43and on its opposite end with'an inturned latch keeper 45 which isselectively received in respective radially extending bores 47 and 49formed in the upper and lower extremities of the door 19. Stillreferring to FIG. 4, a compression spring 51 is interposed between thewall of the vessel 11 and the handle 43 to bias the latch 39 clockwiseto urge such keeper 45 into engagement with the respec- 57 mounted atthe upper front extremity of the vessel 11 and to then projecthorizontally rearwardly across the top of such vessel to thread oversecond pulleys 59 to project downwardly and connect with the oppositeends of the counter-weight 21.

The counter-weight 21 weighs slightly less than the door 19 and anupwardly opening water receiving tank 61 is carried from the bottomthereof and has an outlet port 63 (FIG. 3) formed in the bottom wall 65thereof. The water tank 61 normally sets on a shelf 60 mounted on theinterior of the vessel 11 when the door 19 is in its open position.Formed over the outlet port 63 is a cylindrically shaped valve housing67 which has a pair of radially projecting ports 69 formed diametricallyin opposite sides thereof. Received telescopically in the valve housing67 is a resilient piston-shaped poppet 71 which is biased downwardly bymeans of a compression spring 73 to be maintained in alignment with theports 69 to prevent water escape therethrough to the outlet port 63.

A lanyard 75 is connected with the top of the poppet 71 and leadsupwardly through an anchoring bracket 77 mounted to the interior wall ofthe vessel 11. The lanyard 75 is of sufficient length to draw the poppet71 to its open position shown in FIG. 3 when the counterweight 21 is inits full down position to thereby enable any water in the tank 61 todrain therefrom and to enable such poppet to close the ports 69 when thecounter-weight 21 is raised to enable such tank to again be filled withwater. Obviously, such lanyard may be replaced by an upwardly projectingpin mounted on the shelf 60 and projecting up through the outlet 63 toengage the poppet 71 when the tank 61 is resting on such shelf as shownin FIGS. 2 and 3.

Each of the scuba tank connector conduits 27 have a filling valve 81connected therewith for controlling entry of air to the respectivetanks. The manifold 25 leads from a master valve 83 that is connectedwith a compressor (not shown) and a pressure gauge 85 is included in theline downstream of such valve 83.

A water cooling manifold 87 projects horizontally across the upperportion of the vessel 11 and includes a plurality of downwardly openingwater nozzles 89 for discharge of cooling water over the tanks 31. Asupply line 91 leads from an electric water control valve 93 to suchmanifold 87. A switch 94 is disposed in the path of the closing door 19to be closed when such door is closed to open such valve.

In operation the door 19 is raised to its open position shown in FIG. 2and the number of scuba tanks 31 to be filled are placed inthe vessel 11and have the respective supply conduits 27 coupled therewith. The

control valve 81 of each respective conduit 27 is turned on and theworkmen will then return to the work area 17 surrounding the vessel 11.

The workmen may then depress the handle 43 (FIG. 4) of the latch 39 toretract the bolt 45 from the bore 47 to free the door 19 for lowering.Such door will lower under its own weight and will drop to a closedposition in covering relationship over the doorway 15 to bring the boltbore 49 into alignment with the bolt 45 thereby resulting in the latchrotating clockwise to reengage such bolt with the bore 29 to lock thedoor in its closed position. Closure of the door 19 closes the switch 94to turn on the water valve 93 and introduce cooling water to the watermanifold 87 to spray such cooling water from the nozzles 89 to maintainthe tanks 31 cool during filling thereof. The air supply valve 83 isalso turned on to commence pressurization of such tanks.

A portion of the cooling water sprayed from the nozzle 89 enters theupwardly opening water tank 61 and will be retained therein since thevalve poppet 71 is in sealing relationship over the ports 69 (FIG. 3).The tank 61 will hold about 20 pounds of water and provides sufficientweight to, when coupled with the weight of the counter-weight 21,overbalance the door 19 thus resulting in such door being urged towardsits open position once the tank 61 is filled.

In the event of one of the high pressure tanks 31 failing and releasinghigh pressure gas therefrom, such gas will be retained within the wallsof the vessel 11 to be directed upwardly out through the dischargeoutlet 13 and away from the work area 17. Further, if such expanding gasrenders the failed tank or other tanks airborne, the flying tanks andthe debris resulting from the failure will be mainly retained beneaththe gridwork fonned by the grid bars 34 and 36 to prevent escape to thesurrounding area.

After the tanks 31 are fully pressurized, the likelihood of failurethereof is substantially less than during pressurization thereof soopening of the door 19 and entry of personnel into the vessel 11 isrelatively safe. The door 19 is opened by depressing the handle 43 (FIG.4) to retract the bolt 45 from the bore 49 to free such door foropening. Since the water in the water tank 61 is of sufficient weight,when coupled with the counterweight 21 to overbalance the door 19, suchdoor will be carried upwardly by such counter-weight 21 and tank 61 toopen the doorway 15. Opening of the door 19 opens the switch 94 tode-energize the valve 94 and discontinue water flow to the nozzles 89.Downward travel of the water tank 61 and counter-weight 21 is limited bysuch water tank coming to rest on the shelf 60 to limit upward travel ofsuch door to align the bore 47 with the latch bolt 45 to engage suchbolt therewith and lock the door 19 in its open position shown in FIG.2.

Resting of the tank 61 and counter-weight 21 on the shaft 60 tightensthe valve lanyard to draw the valve poppet 71 (FIG. 3) upwardly to theposition shown in FIG. 3 to open the ports 69 for communication of waterfrom the tank 61 to the outlet port 63 for drainage of such water toenable the door 19 to overbalance the combination tank 61 andcounter-weight 21 for automatic closure once the latch 39 is againdepressed. The individual control valves 81 may then be closed and thecoupling hoses 27 disconnected from the respective tanks 31.

The expansive gas protective device shown in FIG. 5 is similar to thatshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 except that it includes a doorway 101 which isrelatively small for receipt of scuba tanks 103. A door 105 is providedfor selective closing of the doorway 101 and is carried on the frontextremity of a drawer 107 which is itself carried on rollers which rollon parallel tracks for convenient sliding inwardly and outwardly withrespect to the doorway 101. Latches 109 are provided for closing thedoor 105 and such door includes hand-grasp handle 111 for convenientopening and closing thereof.

The expansive gas protective device shown in FIG. 5 operatessubstantially the same as that for the device shown in FIG. 1 exceptthat the door 105 need not be counter-weighted. The scuba tanks 103 areplaced ditanks 103 may then be pressurized and the latches 109subsequently unlatched and the door 105 opened to withdraw the tanks 103from the vessel 100.

Fromthe foregoing, it will be apparent that the expansive gasprotective-device provides a convenient and highly reliable means "forprotecting personnel working in the area of scuba tanks beingpressurized and wherein the heavy door thereof is easily opened andclosed.

I claim:

I. An expansive gas protective device for use in a work area for fillingworkpieces and comprising:

a heavy walled protective vessel formed with a high pressure work piecechamber disposed in said work area and having a discharge outlet openingtoward an area remote from said work area, said chamber including anaccess doorway disposed in said work area;

a high pressure source includingcon-nector means disposed in saidchamber for connection with said work pieces;

a door for covering said access doorway;

counter-balance means connected with said door for urging it towards itsopen position and including a counter-balance fluid tank having anoutlet port therein; 7

valve means controlling flow from said outlet port;

counter-balance fluid supply means for providing fluid to said tank; and

means for moving said door between an open and a closed position.

2. An expansive gas protective device as set forth in claim 1 thatincludes:

spray means for spraying cooling fluid into said chamber and wherein;said tank is disposed in the path of fluid sprayed from said spray meansand is open on thetop side v thereof for receipt of said fluid.

3. An expansive gas protective device as set forth in claim 2 thatincludes:

a fluid supply line leading to said spray means; fluid control means insaid line and responsive to closing of said door to deliver fluid tosaid tank and opening of said door to discontinue fluid delivery to saidtank. 4. An expansive gas protective device as set forth in claim 1wherein said:

counter-balance means includes a counter-balance weight having a weightslightly less than the weight of said door and said tank has sufficientcapacity to hold a sufficient quantity of said fluid to, when cou-- pledwith the weight of said counter-balance weight, overbalance said door.5. An expansive gas protective device as set forth in claim 4 thatincludes:

means responsive to opening of said door to open said valve means andresponsive to closing of said door to close said valve means. 6. Anexpansive gas protective device as set forth in claim 4 that includes:

spray means for spraying cooling fluid into said chamber and wherein;said tank is disposed in the path of fluid sprayed from said spray meansand is open on the top side thereof for receipt of said fluid.

1. An expansive gas protective device for use in a work area for fillingwork-pieces and comprising: a heavy walled protective vessel formed witha high pressure work piece chamber disposed in said work area and havinga discharge outlet opening toward an area remote from said work area,said chamber including an access doorway disposed in said work area; ahigh pressure source including connectOr means disposed in said chamberfor connection with said work pieces; a door for covering said accessdoorway; counter-balance means connected with said door for urging ittowards its open position and including a counter-balance fluid tankhaving an outlet port therein; valve means controlling flow from saidoutlet port; counter-balance fluid supply means for providing fluid tosaid tank; and means for moving said door between an open and a closedposition.
 2. An expansive gas protective device as set forth in claim 1that includes: spray means for spraying cooling fluid into said chamberand wherein; said tank is disposed in the path of fluid sprayed fromsaid spray means and is open on the top side thereof for receipt of saidfluid.
 3. An expansive gas protective device as set forth in claim 2that includes: a fluid supply line leading to said spray means; fluidcontrol means in said line and responsive to closing of said door todeliver fluid to said tank and opening of said door to discontinue fluiddelivery to said tank.
 4. An expansive gas protective device as setforth in claim 1 wherein said: counter-balance means includes acounter-balance weight having a weight slightly less than the weight ofsaid door and said tank has sufficient capacity to hold a sufficientquantity of said fluid to, when coupled with the weight of saidcounter-balance weight, overbalance said door.
 5. An expansive gasprotective device as set forth in claim 4 that includes: meansresponsive to opening of said door to open said valve means andresponsive to closing of said door to close said valve means.
 6. Anexpansive gas protective device as set forth in claim 4 that includes:spray means for spraying cooling fluid into said chamber and wherein;said tank is disposed in the path of fluid sprayed from said spray meansand is open on the top side thereof for receipt of said fluid.